How to stay calm under pressure - Noa Kageyama and Pen-Pen Chen

Translator: Paula Gallardo Domínguez Reviewer: Servizo de Normalización Lingüística

Your favorite athlete closes in for a victorious win.

A túa deportista favorita está moi preto dunha vitoria triunfal.

The crowd holds its breath,

O público contén o alento

and, at the crucial moment, she misses the shot.

e, á hora da verdade, falla o golpe.

That competitor just experienced the phenomenon known as "choking,"

Esa competidora acaba de experimentar o fenómeno coñecido como bloqueo,

where despite months, even years, of practice,

polo cal unha persoa, mesmo con meses ou anos de práctica,

a person fails right when it matters most.

mete a pata xusto no momento decisivo.

Choking is common in sports,

Isto acontece a miúdo no deporte,

where performance often occurs under intense pressure

onde os deportistas teñen que actuar baixo unha gran presión

and depends on key moments.

e o seu éxito depende de momentos clave.

And yet, performance anxiety also haunts public speakers,

Pero a ansiedade tamén afecta a quen fala en público,

contestants in spelling bees,

aos participantes de concursos de deletreo e mesmo a músicos de renome mundial.

and even world-famous musicians.

Most people intuitively blame it on their nerves,

Instintivamente, atribuímos esa ansiedade aos nervios,

but why does being nervous undermine expert performance?

pero por que ese nerviosismo prexudica o desempeño dos expertos?

There are two sets of theories,

Hai dous grupos de teorías.

which both say that primarily, choking under pressure boils down to focus.

As dúas apoian que o bloqueo resultante de actuar baixo presión

está ligado coa concentración.

First, there are the distraction theories.

Por un lado, están as teorías de distracción.

These suggest that performance suffers when the mind is preoccupied

Segundo estas, o rendemento reséntese cando a mente se distrae

with worries, doubts, or fears,

con preocupacións, dúbidas ou temores,

instead of focusing its attention on performing the task at hand.

en lugar de concentrar a atención na tarefa que se está a facer.

When relevant and irrelevant thoughts compete for the same attention,

Cando os pensamentos relevantes e irrelevantes

compiten pola mesma atención, algún ten que ceder.

something has to give.

The brain can only process so much information at once.

O cerebro non pode procesar tanta información á vez.

Tasks that challenge working memory,

As tarefas que poñen a proba a memoria funcional, o “caderno mental”

the mental “scratch pad” we use

to temporarily store phone numbers and grocery lists,

onde almacenamos temporalmente números telefónicos e listas,

are especially vulnerable to pressure.

son especialmente vulnerables á presión.

In a 2004 study, a group of university students

Nun estudo do ano 2004, pedíuselles a un grupo de universitarios

were asked to perform math problems,

que resolvesen uns problemas matemáticos. Algúns eran sinxelos;

some easy, others more complex and memory-intensive.

Outros requirían máis memoria.

Half the students completed both problem types with nothing at stake,

A metade dos estudantes resolveron ambos os tipos de problemas sen presión,

while the others completed them when calm and under pressure.

mentres que a outra metade resolveunos con presión e sen ela.

While everyone did well on the easy problems,

Todos resolveron ben os problemas doados,

those who were stressed performed worse

pero os que estaban tensos fixeron peor

on the more difficult, memory-intensive tasks.

os que esixían reter máis información.

Explicit monitoring theories make up the second group of explanations

O segundo tipo de teorías que explican o bloqueo baixo presión

son as de control explícito.

for choking under pressure.

They’re concerned with how pressure

Explican como a presión pode dar lugar

can cause people to overanalyze the task at hand.

a que a xente sobreanalice a tarefa que teñen entre mans.

Here, the logic goes that once a skill becomes automatic,

Segundo estas, cando automatizamos as tarefas,

thinking about its precise mechanics interferes with your ability to do it.

analizar os seus mecanismos interfire coa capacidade de realizalas.

Tasks we do unconsciously seem to be most vulnerable to this kind of choking.

As tarefas que facemos de forma inconsciente

parecen ser as máis propensas a este tipo de bloqueo.

A study on competitive golfers compared their performance

Un estudo comparou o rendemento de golfistas profesionais

when instructed to simply focus on putting as accurately as possible,

cando se concentraban exclusivamente en embocar a bóla na focha

versus when they were primed to be acutely aware

e cando analizaban con detemento

of the mechanics of their putting stroke.

as técnicas do golpe para meter a bóla.

Golfers usually perform this action subconsciously,

Polo xeral ,os golfistas fan estes movementos inconscientemente,

so those who suddenly tuned in to the precise details of their own moves

por iso os que comezaron a fixarse nos movementos da xogada en detalle

also became worse at making accurate shots.

empeoraron á hora de realizar tiros precisos.

Choking may not be inevitable for everyone though.

Pero non todo o mundo pode evitar bloquearse.

Research suggests that some are more susceptible than others,

Os estudos suxiren que hai individuos máis susceptibles que outros,

especially those who are self-conscious,

sobre todo as persoas tímidas, ansiosas

anxious,

and afraid of being judged negatively by others.

e aquelas que temen que as xulguen os demais.

So, how can we avoid choking when it really counts?

Como podemos evitar bloquearnos en situacións importantes?

First, it helps to practice under stressful conditions.

En primeiro lugar, é de grande axuda practicar en situacións de estrés.

In a study on expert dart players,

Nun estudo con xogadores de dardos,

researchers found that those who hadn’t practiced under stress

descubriuse que os que non practicaran baixo presión

performed worse when anxious,

rendían menos cando se poñían nerviosos que aqueles que practicaban baixo presión.

compared to those who had become accustomed to pressure.

Secondly, many performers extol the virtues of a pre-performance routine,

En segundo lugar, hai quen aconsella ter unha rutina previa á actuación,

whether it’s taking a few deep breaths,

como respirar profundamente varias veces,

repeating a cue word,

repetir unha palabra

ou seguir unha secuencia rítmica de movementos.

or doing a rhythmic sequence of movements.

Studies on golfing, bowling, and water polo

Segundo algúns estudos sobre golf, birlos e wáter-polo,

find that short rituals can lead to more consistent

ter pequenos rituais antes de xogar

pode resultar nun mellor rendemento cando estamos baixo presión.

and accurate performance under pressure.

Por último, hai probas que demostran que concentrarse nun obxectivo externo

And thirdly, researchers have shown

that having an external focus on the ultimate goal

do que facemos dá mellores resultados que concentrarse

works better than an internal focus,

na propia actividade,

where someone is tuned into the mechanics of what they’re doing.

na mecánica do que estamos facendo.

Un estudo con golfistas experimentados

A study of experienced golfers revealed that those who hit chip shots

revelou que os que daban golpes curtos,

while focused on the flight of the ball

fixándose na traxectoria da bóla,

performed significantly better than those who focused on the motion of their arms.

tiñan mellores resultados

que os que se concentraban no movemento dos brazos.

So, perhaps we can modify that age-old saying:

Polo tanto, poderiamos modificar o vello dito:

practice,

a práctica,

under pressure,

baixo estrés,

with focus,

con concentración

and with that glorious end goal in sight,

e con esa gloriosa meta final á vista

makes perfect.

fai o mestre.